Upcoming Sunoikisis Planning Seminar

The Center for Hellenic Studies is excited for the upcoming Sunoikisis Course Planning and Faculty Development Seminar. Seventeen professors from across the country and around the world will be attending the Greek and Latin Sunoikisis planning seminars, both in person and electronically, from June 10^th to June 20^th. This year’s Greek seminar is focusing on Hellenistic Literature with Ivana and Andrej Petrovic from Durham University serving as consultants, while the Latin seminar will focus on the Roman Empire 70-180 C.E. with Victoria Pagán from the University of Florida serving as the consultant.
Between the two seminars there will be a Common Session that all participants from both seminars are encouraged to attend. Rather than focusing on specific subject matter, this day will explore innovations in technology and pedagogy in order to benefit future Sunoikisis courses. During the seminars, participants will read and discuss primary and secondary literature over the three-day planning session. The goal is to come out of each three-day seminar with a finished syllabus for the course scheduled in the cycle for that Fall term. After attending these planning workshops this summer, these professors lead a synchronous common session for one of the courses, create a writing prompt for a weekly assignments, provide feedback on writing assignments, and evaluating student abstracts or other student coursework.
The goal of Sunoikisis is to supplement small or under-resourced classics programs with classes and lectures that a one- or two-person department might not be able to offer under typical circumstances. The CHS and Sunoikisis will offer their resources, class materials, website assistance, and the support of the CHS/Harvard Fellow as long as each participating institution has a classicist ‘on the ground’ at the institution. In our experience, with the addition of these types of courses offered, and given contact with other professors and students at other institutions, student interest in classics increases at a dramatic rate. We have found that over time this increase in interest leads to more hires, as more classes are requested and student interest is given an opportunity to grow. Further, since it is often the case that many different instructors are responding to the work of students from all over the country, the possibility to compound a variety of perspectives and viewpoints is extraordinary. It is so rare for a student to have the opportunity to be in a classroom with two instructors at the same time—nevertheless six or more professors—and to be able to participate in such a conversation about a particular topic in classics in real time. In addition, instructors in small departments have the opportunity to converse and compare notes with classics colleagues in similar or interestingly dissimilar professional circumstances.
If you are interested in participating in the Hellenistic Literature or the Roman Empire 70-180 C.E. courses this fall but are not a student in a participating institution, please contact us. Additionally, if you are interested in getting involved with Sunoikisis, please see this FAQ.
Click to view the Sunoikisis Greek Course Archive
Click here to view the Sunoikisis Latin Course Archive

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